Revolution Part 2: Charlie and Monroe
by rcms24
Summary: Basically, this is a story about the relationship between Charlie and Monroe during the show from seasons 1 and 2, and then after that, a continuation of what I would've liked to see for them in season 3. Told from multiple perspectives.
1. Chapter 1

_Monro_e _1x10_

I walk in proudly, almost giddy. I have the upper hand. Both of Rachel's kids are here, the boy and the girl. There's more than enough leverage. And after seeing that crazy bitch kill a man with a screw driver, I'm not taking any chances.

"Rachel," I say with a slight smirk on my face. "It must be nice to have both of your children back." But not for too long… I turn my eyes to her children. The boy, Danny, is injured. The girl's body is facing her brother's while looking at me, wide eyed. As if she's instinctively protecting him.

So this is the girl that's been fighting alongside Miles. She was the girl that made the calm and collected Neville's blood boil and the girl that turned his son into a traitor. Most importantly, she was the girl that Miles chose to leave his hideout for. The two of them had practically become rebels, both gunning for my death. I smile and greet her, "Hello Charlotte." I remembered the days before the blackout when Miles would talk about his giggling niece, Charlie. He even showed me pictures of the girl and at the time, I thought of my own sisters when he did. "It's nice to finally meet you. I'm General Monroe." I see a twinge of hostility as her eyes glare. She was a pretty a girl. Very similar to her mother.

"What did you do to my son?" Rachel demands.

I keep my eyes fixed on the girl for a moment. "I'm entirely done playing games with _you,_ Rachel." She'll comply once she knows what I have in store for her. "You know what that is, right?" I point to the corner.

"Amplifier," Rachel breathes.

"A real one, your friend, Dr. Jackie was building me a backup. That is, until you shoved a screw driver into his chest." That's what I don't like about her, she's always been one step ahead and I always underestimated her.

"Mom," Charlie says, her eyes fixed only on her mother. I watch as Rachel looks at her kids, hoping they wouldn't see her as a monster for the horrible thing she's done. Her weakness is clear. I won't be underestimating her this time.

"Oh, I'm sure there's a lot about your mom you don't know," I say to Charlie, smiling. Her eyes reflect clear hatred to me, but with a hint of confusion. I inhale, a little thrown off by her fixed glare. "You've seen one of these pendants before, right? Know what it can do?" I hold one in front of her and she stares at it and me with disdain. "Well that machine amplifies its range. It makes jets fly. Takes roll." Her eyes move from me to the amplifier as I explain. "Your mom is going to finish it for me."

Now she stares at her mother, her voice low, but strong. "Mom, what's he talking about?"

"She's going to be a real patriot, isn't that right Rachel?" I smile towards her. I've got her in a corner and we both know it. But then Charlie speaks again.

"Mom, look at me." Rachel complies helplessly, while Charlie stares back fiercely and determined. "Whatever he's asking you to do, you can't do it."

"Is that so?" I smirk as I wave to Strauss and I hear the clink of his gun. Rachel tries to throw herself between the man and her children, but my men pull her away as she cries out. But I'm watching her kids. The two sit up straighter, but Charlie again positions herself in front of her brother, clutching his leg, her eyes wid, but still determined.

"Mrs. Matheson, I'm sorry," Strausser says in that unnerving voice of his. "But you need to choose which one of your children I'm going to kill." I can see Rachel breaking, tears in her eyes.

"You son of a bitch," she shouts. I know I've won.

"Listen to me," Charlie says as her voice shakes.

"Which one? The boy or the girl?" Strausser waves the gun to point to her two options. Rachel looks from him to her daughter.

"I've seen the militia kill dozens of people and if you help him, they will kill hundreds, if not thousands, Mom." Her voice grew stronger and more assertive. The girl was trying to convince her mother not to help me, knowing full well what that would mean. This just got a lot more interesting than I thought it would and I watch her, transfixed.

"The boy or the girl? Which one is your favorite?" Strausser asks mockingly as he continues to wave his gun around. But Charlie just keeps her eyes fixed on Rachel as she shakes her head.

"Mom, don't," Charlie tells her, unwavering. But Rachel is crying now, there's no way she wouldn't help me. Even the crazy ones have soft spots I suppose. "Some things are more important than family!"

"Choose now!" Starusser demands.

"Pick me," she shouts and jumps forward as everyone stares, surprised. Her brother is frozen, but she is not. I'm almost mesmerized; it would be a pity if she died. She would have made a good soldier.

"Alright. Have it your way." Strausser points the gun to her head, but Charlie just stares down the barrel. She has tears in her eyes, but she won't back down. Her mom strangles out a protest.

"It's okay, Mom." She keeps her eyes fixed on Strausser, with a look of contempt, not even a shred of reservation.

"Stop! Stop!" Rachel shouts shakily. I tear my gaze from Charlie to her. "I will finish your damn amplifier. Just stop."

"See, just like Miles always said," I say as I look at Charlie, who glares at me bitterly. "A good hostage works every time. Take them back to the holding cell and if she steps out of line. If she even breathes funny... kill both the kids." I glance between the two, but I'm more focused on Charlie when I say this. Then I turn and walk from the room. For a moment afterward, I recall Charlie's determination. For the most part, I forget about her…

Until I see her again on that monitor in the tower.

_Charlie 1x10_

He strides in. The one man I would gladly hurt with guilt or doubt. Every amount of pain that my family has felt has been caused by this man. He took my mom. He killed my dad. Danny was injured and alone because of him. Miles drinks himself stupid to forget him. But most importantly, he caused what I saw. The death, the inhumanity. He is the one cause of everyone in this whole damn world's suffering.

"Rachel, it must be nice to have both of your children back." He looks at me, as if we had just been introduced in a normal way that didn't involve a room filled with his men and some serious guns. "Hello, Charlotte," he says me, with a smile. His eyes are cold, dead. He doesn't seem to remember me from the night he tried to kill an entire town, just to get Miles. "It's nice to finally meet you." I swear, one day, I'll kill him.

"What did you do to my son?" Mom asks indignantly. I flinch as I glance at Danny; he's so bruised and broken. Now he looks frozen.

"I'm entirely done playing games with you, Rachel" he tells her, with his eyes still on me. But then he turns away and asks her about a strange looking machine in the corner. She tells him it's an 'amplifier'.

"A real one, your friend, Dr. Jackie was building me a backup. That is, until you shoved a screw driver into his chest," Monroe says and my gaze snaps away from him and towards my mom.

"Mom," I exhale. That can't be true? What the hell is going on?

"Oh, I'm sure there's a lot about your mom you don't know," he tells me with a smirk. I resist the urge to hit him, but I know he's right. "You've seen one of these pendants before, right? Know what it can do?" he asks as he holds one out. "Well that machine amplifies its range. It makes jets fly. Takes roll. Your mom is going to finish it for me." No. No. We _cannot _let that happen.

Mom, what's he talking about?" She wouldn't do that. She has to know what the consequences are.

"She's going to be a real patriot, isn't that right Rachel?"

"Mom, look at me," I tell her. I can see her waver slightly. "Whatever he's asking you to do, you can't do it."

"Is that so?" The sick bastard is amused. Then he gestures to Strausser and I know this will be bad. I push myself in front of Danny as he pulls out a gun. Someone restrains my mom and I watch helplessly.

"Mrs. Matheson, I'm sorry. But you need to choose which one of your children I'm going to kill."

"You son of a bitch," she shouts. Oh god, she's breaking.

"Listen to me," I say, my voice shaking, but I force it away as I clutch Danny's leg and hope for his forgiveness.

"Which one? The boy or the girl?"

"I've seen the militia kill dozens of people and if you help him, they will kill hundreds, if not thousands, Mom." I'm shouting now. I'm not afraid anymore. I know what's worse than the death of one…

"The boy or the girl? Which one is your favorite?" His voice is menacing now. He doesn't actually want my mom to give in, he wants to kill us.

"Mom, don't," I warn her, despite my every natural instinct begging me stop talking and let her do the selfish thing. "Some things are more important than family!" I never thought I would say that, but in this moment, I know it's true.

"Choose now!" Starusser demands.

"Pick me," I shout and jump off the couch, placing myself between the maniacs and my little brother. I would make this choice any day. It has to be done.

"Alright. Have it your way," Strausser tells me. I hear my mom cry out.

"It's okay, Mom." I stare down Strausser, hoping he'll join me in hell someday soon. I curse the tears in my eyes and force myself not to look at Monroe.

"Stop! Stop! I will finish your damn amplifier. Just stop." I turn from the gun, to my mom, glaring at her. She made the wrong choice.

"See, just like Miles always said," Monroe recalls, clearly very amused. His words piss me off, he is _nothing _like my uncle. "A good hostage works every time. Take them back to the holding cell and if she steps out of line. If she even breathes funny... kill both the kids." He looks at me for a moment and a chill goes down my spine. That's the last time I saw him before he killed my brother.

_Charlie 1x19_

After Danny died, I thought of Monroe every day. I would kill him. I had to.

That night at the tower, I didn't expect to. Not then, when he saved my life. I stared at him as he walked toward me.

"Hello, Charlotte." I pause, waiting to see if he'll hurt Aaron and I, but he doesn't. "A thank you would be nice." Those words send me back to reality. Back to the fact that he was smug. That he was alive. I tried to shove the wreckage off of me, while holding his gaze, but then someone else caught my eye.

"Mom," I breathe. She walks over to me and helps Aaron lift the shelf. "Where did Monroe go?" I yell when I get out. I looked around frantically and tried to push past my mom, who was holding me back.

"What the hell are you doing here, Charlie? I told you not to come," she reminds me. I can't believe that's what she's talking about when we are in the same god damn building as the man who killed half our family.

"What am I doing here? What the hell are you doing with him?" I yell unable to contain my rage. She convinces me that we have more important things to do. I know she's right. So I tell myself that I _will _get him later. If it's the last thing I do…

_Monroe 1x19_

"Oh my god," Rachel exhales. Here I am, trying to find an excuse to get Rachel to help me, which I was starting to believe was damn near impossible, when the girl appears on the screen. I am one lucky bastard.

"Charlie," her mother whispers. Then we see Miles and Nora walk through another hallway and I know I need to go now. "What are you doing here?" I make my plea to Rachel when I see the desperation in her eyes.

"Unlock the guns, Rachel. No matter what I've done to you before, you gotta believe me, I don't want to let another one of your kids get hurt. I will help you," I urge her and suddenly I remember Charlie. I remember that there's a shred of truth to my lie.

"You're lying," she tells me blankly.

"You wanna kill me so bad, you're gonna let Charlie die," I say this, knowing it'll work and it does. She turns from me, than back.

"What about Miles?"

"No promises," I answer. "But I will save Charlie, I swear." I stare at her intently, breathing a little heavier and emphasizing each word. We both know I'm telling the truth.

And I prove that I am. As I'm heading down the hall, Rachel just behind me, we hear a shot and her scream. Then someone shouts her name. I run ahead of Rachel and see Charlie pinned to the ground by a metal shelf, and then a man is pointing a gun at her, the one that blows people to bits. I just react without a thought, shooting him with the same weapon. I stride toward her, amused by her bewildered expression that still manages to be as intriguing as the way she looked before. "Hello Charlotte." She just stares blankly at me, still stunned. "A thank you would be nice." Then she reacts, anger takes hold of her, the same kind that led her mother to trying to kill me with a grenade. My moment of amusement is gone when she grunts trying to push the metal off of her to get to me. Rachel walks past me and rushes to her daughter's aide.

"Mom," Charlie says, forgetting me and staring wide eyed at her mother. I turn away, to find Miles. "Where did Monroe go?" I hear her demand as she struggles to get past Rachel.

"What the hell are you doing here, Charlie? I told you not to come," Rachel grunts.

"What am I doing here? What the hell are you doing with him?" she yells. And that's the last I hear, now focused on her uncle.

When I do see her again, we are both completely different people.


	2. Chapter 2

2x01

_Charlie_

"_I saw him a couple weeks ago… Monroe…" _

Those words motivate me. They give me the purpose I need. I'm entering New Vegas now and I know there's no turning back. I avoid giving too much thought of how disgusting this town is. The old me would avoid getting too close to the prostitutes and drug addicts, but I push that aside when I hear cheering and drunken laughter from one of the larger tents. When I get closer, I hear the thudding of punches and I know I've found what I'm looking for.

Sure enough, _he _is the one fighting. I see him and everything clicks. I study him, looking for every weakness I can find. He looks different. Pathetic, even. He's sweaty, unshaven, and bleeding. He lacks the presence he used to have, the ability to make your blood run cold with just a look. His air of menacing civility is gone, but his confidence is there when he avoids one of his rival's blows easily.

Monroe's winning, he's delivering blow after blow, he's even better than Miles. When he delivers the final punch, people cheer for the bastard and scatter away. Monroe looks tired but he places an arm around a half dressed floozy that just appeared by his side. I watch mesmerized as they gamble together. My gaze is tactical and eager. I resist the urge to take him out right now.

"I saw you in the fight tent," a voice addresses me in close proximity. I just glance at him, then back to my target. "You like fights, sweetheart?" His sleaziness might just come to my advantage.

"I like him," I say, trying to hide my revulsion with flirtation.

"Jimmy? He's okay," he says dismissively as we watch him flirt with the woman. "A little moody if you ask me." You don't know the half of it. The guy probably killed when his coffee was served cold.

"Jimmy, that's his name?" I ask with a small smirk, knowing I'll get more information with ease.

"Yeah, Jimmy King." That name clearly proves that he suffers from a serious superiority complex. "From back east, I think." Although my eyes are on Monroe, I notice the man looking me up and down. I want this conversation to end soon.

"How long has he been here?"

"Few weeks, maybe. Look, if you wanna bet on him, I run the sports book around here." I pull a sack from my pocket and pour the diamonds into his hand without looking at the guy. "He's not fighting tonight."

"It's not a bet," I tell him with a smile. It's revenge.

Just a couple of hours later, I wait with my finger on the trigger of my crossbow, poised to shoot Monroe as he walks closer to me. I want a perfect shot, the closest one I can get. _This is for my family._ I pull with a sense of relief, knowing it's over. I don't even feel the gnawing guilt in my stomach this time. I know that this is justified and more than well deserved.

My eyes follow the arrow to Monroe, but something else hits him and my arrow hits a tree instead. Two men drag away the unconscious Monroe and I watch helplessly. My last chance for peace is being dragged away, but I've come too far. I will kill Monroe.


	3. Chapter 3

2x02

Charlie

I tracked the men to an abandoned pool and wait there until one of them falls asleep. I lure the other one out by making noise around their camp and it works like a charm. The older man wanders away and I knock him out with ease and take his gun. I try to proceed cautiously; my movements are silent and slow. I walk towards the edge of the pool with my gun pointing to the sleeping man, but then I see Monroe tied up in the pool and I throw caution to the wind and change my mark. I walked quicker and look up less. I need to do this fast.

"Hey," a soft voice says, startling me. I redirect my weapon, but it's too late. I hear shots and I feel the pain send me over the edge of the pool. Then nothing.

Monroe

A shot wakes me up and it takes me a moment to remember where I am. Then I see someone fall from above. I watch as the younger guy, the douchey one, climbs down to check on them. He turns her over and even in the dark, I recognize her. Rachael's daughter. She came to kill me. Well, I can't say I'm surprised.

"Know her?" the guy asks me threateningly. I shake my head with a look of innocence while I picture breaking this guy's nose. "Well she's alive. Guess we'll talk to her in the morning." He picks Charlie up and carries her to the adjacent side of the pool and ties her up the way I was. When he leaves, I watch Charlie, trying to decide if her showing up is an advantage. I decide that it very well could be.

***omnicsient perspective***

Monroe watches Charlie as she stirs in the morning. When she wakes, she flinches at the morning light, as well as the throbbing pain throughout her body. Then she sees the ropes around her wrists and she doesn't bother looking around at her surroundings. She tries to undo her bonds, to no avail.

"Rise and shine," Monroe greets her, interrupting her efforts. She whips her head around at him, somehow recognizing his voice instantly even though she's only heard it twice. She was brought back to his usual greeting towards her, 'Hello Charlotte'. Monroe barely recognized her; Charlie looked completely different and much older, though perhaps it was just the layer of grime she was covered in. Or maybe it was the fact that she was here without Rachael or Miles. In his mind, she had been a pawn that he used against her family. Who knew a pawn could stand without a king or queen.

wThey didn't speak, just held one of the first of many staring contests they would have over the years with their own thoughts about the other swirling around in their minds. It was as if they were having an entirely nonverbal conversation in that one brief instant. However, they were interrupted by one of their captors, the younger man.

"Alright, listen up," he says before stopping a few feet in front of Charlie. "I'm gonna patch you up, but if you try anything cute, you'll get a lot more than a blast of rock salt this time." There's a gentleness in his voice when he addresses her that both Charlie and Monroe note instantly and both deem it as stupidity.

A man above them starts shouting something at her in a foreign language and it makes the younger one just smile at Charlie and although she would never admit it, it was a nice smile. "That's my partner. Got a million dollar smile, doesn't he?" Charlie would almost prefer being killed at this point. His cockiness will surely be his downfall. She just gives the man a look of pure disdain. "So, um…" He hesitates as he lifts his hand toward Charlie. After a moment, he brushes her hair aside and pulls away the jacket covering her injury. The fabric rubbing against her wounds seem to set Charlie's nerves on fire. When she groans, Monroe looks away, finding himself feeling… sorry for her? That's certainly new for him. "So how'd you find Monroe?" Charlie and Monroe stare at him in surprise. "Yeah, I know who he really is."

He dips a wooden spoon into a jar of something sticky and applies it to Charlie's wounds. It makes her flinch away, but she keeps her mouth clamped shut. She refuses to show any sort of weakness in front of Monroe. "Well don't talk my ear off," the man smiles at Charlie again, clearly flirting with her, but Charlie just glares in return, the pain making her very unfriendly. "I get why you want to kill the asshat. Get in line, I mean, the guy who dropped the bombs."

"Yeah, I dropped the bombs," Monroe mutters sarcastically.

"Cram it, douche," the guy replies with hostility. "We've been tracking him for months, so I can't let you screw it up now." He puts more medicine on Charlie's wound, but even more gently this time.

"So what are you going to do?" Charlie asks him.

"She talks," he grins at her. "Well, what, with you? Depends on how pleasant you are." 'Douche', the two captives think simultaneously.

"I meant with Monroe," Charlie replies with notable hostility especially when she says his name.

"We're taking him to our employers."

"You're bounty hunters. Who do you work for?" she questions.

"At the moment, the US government."

"What US government?" Charlie wonders, confused.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Monroe exclaims in disbelief.

"You'll find out soon enough, pal," the man tells him, glancing at him with clear hatred.

"Right whatever," Charlie says, looking between the two, agitated by the sidetrack. "Whoever they are, put a bullet in his brain, hand him in dead." Monroe almost winced at that. Definitely her mother's daughter.

"They want him alive. They've been very clear on the subject."

"Well then you're even dumber than you look," Charlie insulted in a low voice. "Which believe me, makes you seriously dumb." Monroe mimics Charlie's smirk despite himself. He wouldn't admit it, but he was pretty impressed with her. "He'll escape and slit your throat and then you won't have jacksquat." The guy shoves a cloth roughly onto her shoulder and even though she flinches, her smile widens a bit.

"I liked you better when you weren't talking." Monroe watches Charlie's smile fade as the man walks away. He can tell she is determined not to look at him, but he stares at her, letting her take his mind off the pain of his fingers while he picks apart the ceramic tile behind him.

Eventually, Monroe decides he can't hold back his curiosity anymore. "So where are they?" he asks her, using his least threatening tone of voice. Charlie glances at him with very little interest as if he had asked her about insurance policies or something. "Miles and your mom. Did you guys have some kind of a falling out?" Monroe hesitates, faking compassion. A tactic he used often during his time as president. Charlie just stares at him, cursing him silently to hell, as well as the bonds around her wrist. She hated that she was so close to her target, but so unable. "I get it. I'm not really the one you want to open up to." A part of him actually was sincere when he said that. He knew how much he had wronged her, what he did to her.

'No kidding,' Charlie thought as she turned her head away, she had no interest in having some heart to heart (and that's assuming the monster has one). She recognized the falsehood in his demeanor. She had become pretty able to decipher lies, after hearing so many.

"Just answer me one question," Monroe begins with his eyes on the ground, he doesn't need to fake emotion now. "You were there the night that the bombs dropped… in the tower, right?" He watches as Charlie gives just the smallest nod, her eyes staring straight ahead. She doesn't want to remember any of it. "Randall pushed the button, didn't he?" She turns her head to him, confirming. "I knew it," Monroe says, more to himself and swallows. Charlie just analyzed him; she was able to see through a façade that perhaps he himself didn't know about. He was trying to garner her sympathies and reach a common ground. "I walked him to the door… I might as well have pushed the button myself."

Charlie couldn't bear to watch the act anymore. She smirked and looked away from him; she detested even the sight of him. "Right, I'm sure you're just torn up with guilt." She snorted; the notion that this particular man was capable feeling any kind of remorse for the suffering of others was laughable.

"You don't know me, Charlotte," Monroe reminds her and Charlie looks at him as if to say, 'Enlighten me then.' Monroe feels just slightly irate. For some reason, he needed to convince her (or maybe himself?) that he wasn't a villain. "A lot of people depended on me to protect them and what did they get for it? Cooked in their own skin."

"Wow," Charlie responds. "Did it ever occur to you, you sucked at your job?" If you call thieving, pillaging, and murdering his job, then he truly was doing a bang up job.

Monroe doesn't reply for a while, because her words hit him pretty hard. "You know maybe Miles has the right to talk to me like that," Monroe begins, there is only hostility in his tone now as he addresses her, his eyes now reflecting the hatred in hers. "maybe. You? You don't. So watch your mouth." Back when he had the republic, he would've killed someone instantly for that.

"You don't get to tell anybody anything," she informs him matter-of-factly. Her eyes are unblinking and her words cold as ice as she speaks every word slowly and deliberately. "You're nothing. Just a drunk fighting for coin in a whore house. And if you won't put yourself out of your misery, I'd be happy to do it for you." She flashes a smile and Monroe is dazed by her once again. She was unlike anyone he had ever met before, but her empty blue eyes bore a striking resemblance to her mother's. He recalled the moment after she shoved a screwdriver into her friend's chest and after a brief period of sobbing, she turned to Monroe without any emotion, said 'Now you need me.' He also remember how taken aback the young Charlie had been when she heard what her mother had done. Was she no longer the same person?

Monroe laughs after a moment, because he now knows her weakness. "You know, kid, you might be trying to run away from your mother, but you are a hell of a lot like her." The smile on Charlie's face tightens slightly and they don't say another word to each other.

When night falls and the bounty hunters finished repairing their wagon, the older man leads Monroe up the pool. He is careful to hide the shard of tile he had broken off, costing him quite a bit of pain but, Monroe is all too happy to go, it means getting away from Charlie's judgmental looks.

The younger one walks toward Charlie and she mentally prepares herself for a fight if need be. "So what are you going to do with me?"

"Well, you are a complete pain in the ass," he emphasizes each word. "But," he takes a knife and cuts away at the rope and loosens it. Charlie scrambles to loosen it further before giving him a quizzical look. "I don't like killing. Not unless I have too." She flashes one of her famous barely-there-smiles and watches as he walks away from her. When they leave, she rushes to untie herself and although she's barely moved in the last 24 hours, her feet thud quickly against the ground, following their tracks.

Meanwhile, Monroe wastes no time to remove his own restraints and unlocks his makeshift prison cell. He throws himself out without hesitation and lands on the ground running, not missing a beat. He's out of their line of sight before they stop their paddy wagon. When the older bounty hunter does catch up to him though, Monroe has no difficulty killing him. The second one jumps on him and unleashes a barrage of punches. "You killed him! You son of a bitch!" he shouts through his assault. And even though he is more muscular than Monroe, he's nowhere near as skilled of a fighter; he quickly has him against the fence, choking him.

Charlie doesn't hesitate, she grabs a large metal pipe off the ground and goes in swinging; she won't let Monroe kill again. She takes him by surprise and he lets go of the bounty hunter. But Charlie won't stop there, landing several hits.

"Charlie, Charlie stop!" Monroe shouts between her attacks. She isn't swayed, so Monroe hits her in the side, a calculated move and Charlie drops to the ground, wheezing. Monroe hesitates for a moment, watching her. Both wondered if he would kill her. Both were surprised when he doesn't.

Charlie only has a moment to think about it before she pushes it out of her mind and jumps to her feet and begins running again, despite her pain. She won't let this opportunity slip away. By the time she gets to the wagon, it and Monroe are speeding away. While she watches it, the thought comes back to her. 'Why didn't he kill me?'

Meanwhile, Monroe wonders the same thing. It would have been easy, but instead he ran away. Why? "She's Miles' niece. I didn't want to burn those bridges, they could come in handy," he tells himself aloud. While that is true, there's a small, insignificant part of him that wonders if there's any other reason.


End file.
